UTD students march to the polls | Dallas News Live

Young voters are turning out in big numbers this midterm, it appears. In a few hours, students at UTD will march to the polls. Joining me live, president of the Tau Psi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Donovan O'Quana, and the president of the Sigma Mu chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Tia Bennett. Guys, y'all are about to march to the polls in a couple of hours. Donovan, tell me, why did you guys come up with this? Yeah, this year, UT Dallas students were not afforded the opportunity to participate in early voting on campus. And throughout many of our conversations that we had with students, some of the biggest concerns that we heard were dealing with navigating those long lines, those transportation challenges, and just those overall barriers that are associated with voting on election day. So we wanted to rather act rather than simply just acknowledge these concerns, which is Which is why we organized March to the Polls to demonstrate that that we stand with the student body. Tia, a little fire and ice collab right there. Hope Donovan told you I'm an Alpha. Talk about getting students on campus engaged. I know it's not just the Deltas and the Alphas. There's multiple organizations working together to do this today. Yes, so we have partnered with Student Government, the Cornerstone Project, just to name a few. A lot of students or student organizations on campus have been very fired up in getting voter registration and voter education information available to students. So this is something that has been very planned throughout this whole semester. And so this is kind of like the peak point. You know these midterm elections to make sure that students are actively engaged on campus and They have all the information that they need to be informed and to make those decisions at the polls. Our college students, so you guys are privy to some conversations that some people watching may not be when it comes to what are on the minds of young people, young voters. Some of you guys are voting for the first time. Donovan, what conversations have been had on campus this semester about just the election process and wanting more young people to get involved? Yeah, there's been a lot of conversations that we've had involving getting students involved. And one of the challenges that students are facing as well on campus is that the campus is actually divided into two counties, both Dallas and Collin County. And so as a result of that, we've coordinated two separate marches simultaneously to accommodate for both those counties to ensure that students have the ability to vote in the jurisdiction that they are in. And Tia, how do you keep momentum? I mean, today and this midterm election is really big, but there's elections, you know, multiple times a year. How do you guys build off of what you're about to embark on today to keep that conversation going on campus? Yeah, so our organizations, specifically within this semester, a lot of our programs have been focused on voter education and Pointed towards these midterm elections. So like you mentioned, keeping that momentum is very important and between just life and college and school. We have dedicated some of our programming throughout the semester to continue with that momentum because it is quite important, especially, you know, this for today and for the people that are on the ballot and all of those, you know, propositions that will affect college kids. And Donovan, my last question to you is, you know, it's kind of twofold, right? Like young people say that the older voters aren't reaching out to them. Candidates don't really focus on them. Is it partially because young people need to start showing up in bigger numbers? Yeah, I think young people are starting to see how a lot of these policies are affecting their communities, affecting the people around them, affecting their campus. And so I think especially in this election, students are really starting to see how a lot of these policies are affecting them and that they need to be engaged to have their voices heard. Donovan and Tia, thank you so much for joining me. Send us some pictures and videos of that march. We would love to see it. And congratulations on organizing this on your college campuses. Y'all have a good day. Thank you. You too.